If you a D+ST regular, you might've been noticing a lot of trash talk about American politics, especially in the last 6 months (because of the election, I guess). Most of the time it's people criticizing the 2 party system, which I think is a legit, but overused argument.
My question is : Are things REALLY that bad? I mean, sure, things would probably be a lot better with 3 or 4 major political parties, but the fact is, Democrats and Republicans are about as diverse and complex as liberals and conservatives. A conservative Democrat is often more conservative than a liberal Republican (yeah, they have some). It seems like sometimes people forget that we do have a process in our elections, and you can even choose to not vote at all if you want to.
Maybe instead of asking why there are only 2 major parties in the first place, we should be asking "Why haven't the other minority parties gained more popularity?". I know money is an issue, but if there was truly such a great party that was seperate from the 2 major parties we have today, we would've seen it by now. Maybe the reason we only have 2 parties is because all of the other parties can't get their sh*t together.
But if you actually look at politicians in an open-minded way, you'll see that they aren't split down the line into Dems of Reps. For example, Hillary sometimes seems shes in a totally different party than Obama. They agree on a lot of things, but it's just their general attitude that really seperates them. And what about the 17 or so Republicans who voted against the surge? Are you really going to tell me they're the exact same as all the others because they're in the same party?
I think we have more options and more freedom in our election process than we give ourselves credit for. If there was a magic candidate who had a solution to everything, we'd have seen him or her by now. Again, there's a reason we're stuck with 2 parties in the first place.
That's all I have to say. Thank god we can be independents, right?
My question is : Are things REALLY that bad? I mean, sure, things would probably be a lot better with 3 or 4 major political parties, but the fact is, Democrats and Republicans are about as diverse and complex as liberals and conservatives. A conservative Democrat is often more conservative than a liberal Republican (yeah, they have some). It seems like sometimes people forget that we do have a process in our elections, and you can even choose to not vote at all if you want to.
Maybe instead of asking why there are only 2 major parties in the first place, we should be asking "Why haven't the other minority parties gained more popularity?". I know money is an issue, but if there was truly such a great party that was seperate from the 2 major parties we have today, we would've seen it by now. Maybe the reason we only have 2 parties is because all of the other parties can't get their sh*t together.
But if you actually look at politicians in an open-minded way, you'll see that they aren't split down the line into Dems of Reps. For example, Hillary sometimes seems shes in a totally different party than Obama. They agree on a lot of things, but it's just their general attitude that really seperates them. And what about the 17 or so Republicans who voted against the surge? Are you really going to tell me they're the exact same as all the others because they're in the same party?
I think we have more options and more freedom in our election process than we give ourselves credit for. If there was a magic candidate who had a solution to everything, we'd have seen him or her by now. Again, there's a reason we're stuck with 2 parties in the first place.
That's all I have to say. Thank god we can be independents, right?